Piece of Cake
by LadyFirefly88
Summary: Henry and Hook attempt to make a cake for Emma's birthday. Written for CSSS exchange for the lovely maximaminima


Piece of Cake

A/N: established captain swan about six months in and Emma's birthday is coming up.

Emma had extra paperwork at the office and so today she had asked Killian to pick up Henry after school. He'd been flattered that she would trust him enough with her son. Even though they had been together for the better part of the last year, he was still floored when she trusted him like this. She could have had Henry stay with Snow, or asked Charming to bring him to the station. But this morning she asked him ever so casually over their morning coffee to pick Henry up and she'd meet them both at home when she finished her paper work. So Killian had walked over to Henry's school and with a nod to Snow he waited for Henry to exit the school gates and head back to the apartment. The two walked in companionable silence for a few minutes when finally Henry broke it,

"Uhmm Killian, you know my mom's birthday is in a few days right?"

"Aye, lad your grandparents brought it up, I take it you want to do something special as well?"

"Yeah, I was thinking you could help me out, I really wanna try to make Emma a cake for her birthday, when I found her she had like a sad little cupcake on her birthday. I wanna surprise her with a real birthday cake."

"I hate to break it to you Henry, cooking is not a skill I have, killing food yes. Making it edible is a completely different beast."

"Well Sno-Grandma has a recipe book that she lent me and she said I could make the cake if I got some help from a grown up." With that Henry stopped and gave Killian the same face he used on all the adults in his life to get what he wanted. What Gramps had termed his _puppy eyes_. Killian sighed and nodded his agreement and motioned for the both of them to move forward.

"But Killian?"

"Yes?"

"We should try it out first, so for Mom's real birthday we can have it perfect."

"Aye lad that sounds like a good idea, let's try this afternoon, your mother will be at work until after dinner."

And so the duo made their way back to the apartment and began pulling out all the mixing bowls, ingredients, and the step by step instructions that Snow had written out for them. It had all started out well; they separated the liquid and dry ingredients and prepared the kitchen. And as soon as they had to start mixing them together was when the trouble came in. Somehow sifting the flour had become a contest to see who could create a bigger flour "mountain," and then they started trying to sabotage each other's piles. Which somehow led to flour bowls being upended on one another, the pair of them looking ridiculous covered in flour, and laughing uncontrollably. They began getting yet another batch of flour to start over. And just when it seemed like there were getting somewhere with making the cake, they had to start mixing the liquid ingredients with the dry ingredients. But once Henry introduced the handheld mixer it went straight down the crapper. Henry tried showing him how to slowly increase the speed, but Killian insisted that they would get the batter done quicker if he were allowed to control the "demon" machine. That ended with batter literally everywhere. In their hair, all over the counter, the oven, the ceiling you name it, it was hit by batter debris. Just as they managed to get the mixer shut the hysterical laughter had kicked in, and the front door opened and Snow and Charming walked in to the mess in the kitchen. Before Snow could yell at the two boys, Charming had joined them laughing as he walked over to Henry and Killian who had slipped to the floor at this time. Charming had scooped a little of the batter off of the counter,

"This is actually pretty good if you can get it into the oven next time."

His wife had come out her stupor and shook her head at them.

"You better get this cleaned up or Emma is gonna kill you."

Snow and Charming left for their apartment with some tips for getting the batter off the ceiling.

They had just managed to get everything clean and showered themselves, when Emma came home from the station. She smiled at the sight she was greeted with as she went to go check on Henry. He was laying in bed eyes drifting closed as Killian spun a tale about Neverland. Henry was valiantly trying to keep awake but failing. Killian smiled at his attempt, and brought his story to an end.

"Alright lad, I'll finish the story tomorrow night. Good night. Sleep well."

"Thanks… oh and Killian?"

"Aye lad?"

"Is this what it feels like?"

"Is this what, what feels like?"

"Having a dad? A family?"

Killian had stopped and thought for a moment, at the appealing prospect of a real family.

"I'd imagine so lad. You're the best son a man could ask for."

Henry smiled and allowed himself to fall asleep as Killian pulled Henry's blankets higher and smoothed his hair and walk out of the room to wait for Emma. He stopped in his tracks, there was Emma leaning against the door jam with unshed tears in her eyes. She tried smiling through them as Killian moved to pull her into his arms.

She smiled against his chest and tilted her head towards his, their lips just a breath away from one another when she whispered,

"So is this what we are?"

"What love? Say it."

"A family?"

"Aye lass that is exactly what we are. You and Henry are my family. You've given me so much more to live for, something far better than revenge."

Emma smiled for what felt like the thousandth time that night. She held onto Killian's hook and walked him over to the kitchen.

"Hot cocoa love?"

"Sure, but first to you wanna explain why there is batter in the toaster?"

"About that love…"


End file.
